Christmas Musings

Now that Christmas is over, the kids have started to calm down a little bit and we've seen which toys were great successes and which toys weren't. 

For Annika, maybe the biggest success was the Sandra Boynton board book collection. She goes nuts for the book called "Blue hat, Green Hat." And, to tell the truth, it is starting to drive mom and dad a little nuts, too. I mean, I just finished a 300 page dissertation and I find myself saying "red pants, blue pants, OOPS!" approximately 65 times a day. But, Annika loves that and all of the other books she got for Christmas, so that was a big plus. 

Christina made Annika a rag doll that she really loves too. When she sees it she grabs it and says "Baby! MINE!" Living with Ezra has taught her to always mark her territory--so she says "MINE" to everything from a bottle to a diaper to mom and dad. If she happens to be holding anything while Ezra comes by, she immediately sticks it behind her back and gets ready for a fight. I joked that since I am teaching a class on Karl Marx next semester, she should maybe attend so that she can learn of all of the evils of private property. 

Of course, she also added a few Elmos to her collection, which makes her happy. We now have 5 Elmos, and Annika insists on holding all of them in her arms as she marches proudly through the apartment. 

We also got Annika a alphabet magnet for Christmas, which led to her identifying her first letter. When I signed her name to a paper she colored last Sunday, she ran over to the page, put her finger on the "A" and yelled "A! A! A!" She was really proud of herself, and so are we! 

Ezra is pretty easy to shop for, since he tends to like everything. A big plus for Ezra this year is his pirate ship. It shoots darts from a canon and you can raise and drop the sails, have swordfights, and various other things. And Ezra really likes pirates, so this gift was a good one for him. He plays with it ALL of the time, leading to the following interesting questions: 

Do pirates have two eyes? Do pirates have mommies? Are pirates men? Do pirates wear underwear? Do pirates pee and poop? Is Batman a pirate? and various other questions. 

Ezra also loves his book "Where the Sidewalk Ends"--he cracks up every time we read it. We also got a few Dr. Seuss books, since he loves those--and he got a baseball book from Dallin that he really loves. We're thinking we should move to an "all book" policy for holiday gifts, since the kids seem to like these the best. 

Of course, when Ezra saw his dinosaur on Christmas morning, he was really excited. He said he wanted the "big dinosaur from Target" for Christmas for about 2 months, and he got it from Grandma and Grandpa. Since Annika is absolutely terrified of it, we only play with it outside when Annika is otherwise engaged. 

My favorite gift Ezra got is the tiny little helicopter he got from Grandma and Grandpa. I love to fly that thing around the house as much as Ezra does!

All in all, it was a great Christmas for us here...we made an enormous dinner on Christmas eve and spent most of Christmas snacking, lounging, and playing around. We hope everyone had a great Christmas and wish everyone a happy New Year!

Merry Christmas to everyone! (More Christmas to follow.)

Trick-or-Treat

I love Halloween so much! Always have. I have tried really hard this year to make it as festive as I can for the kids. They get so excited and appreciate anything that you do for them. They are so much fun. I feel really lucky to get to stay home with them and play all day. 

Today Ezra and I decorated our front window for a contest PVIL is having while Annika was napping. I really wanted to do something scary but thought I better not. I didn't want to scare the kids. I'm sure they will love that sort of thing when there are older, so I can wait. 

We watched the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown today and thought that would be a perfect theme for the window. I think it turned out pretty cute. I only used construction paper and a black marker. See, I still use my art degree! Who said that was a waste of time?? :)

After dinner we went trick-or-treating at one of the dorms.  Ezra went as a mouse again and Annika went as a kitten. I really wanted them to match so after we were done with the window, I put together her costume. She is so adorable!

We ate dinner at the dining hall before we went. 

It was a perfect meal for a little mouse!

After dinner we went to a little Halloween party at the dorm. The girls there did such a good job making it fun for the kids. There were pumpkins to decorate, pictures to color, cookies to eat and games to play. The kids really seemed to enjoy themselves. Ezra decorated this cookie all by himself.

Ezra tried his hand at musical chairs. He was the smallest kid there by far. Words cannot describe how cute he looked running around the chairs with the bigger kids. I wish I had a video of it! He made it through the first round, but was out in the second. He didn't care though, they gave him orange playdough so he was set.

 Annika loved trick or treating! She had a blast walking up the hallways and getting to choose a piece of candy from the rooms- or more like a whole handful! I had mixed feelings about letting her do that. I know she is way too little to eat candy, but she was so dang cute! 

BOO at the ZOO

Yesterday we took the kids to the Boo at the Zoo Halloween event here. It was so much fun. This was the first time we have gone and I was impressed with how much work they put into it. They had all kinds of Halloween games, a maze, pumpkin carving, a train ride (which we didn't get to go on because the line to go was way too long, so sad), and tons of other stuff. We didn't get to do everything because there were a million people there, but the kids still had a blast! I don't think Annika is too keen on crowds though because after awhile she started waving her hand and saying "Bye! Bye!" It was pretty funny. Ezra and I also got to pet a possum, so that was pretty cool (and kinda gross!)

We ran into Josh, Sarah, and Dylan in the parking lot so we were lucky to spend the night with them too! Ezra dressed up as a mouse, Dylan went as a ghost, and Annika went as Tinker Bell. Ezra even wiggled his nose for a nice "mouse" effect.

I had to take a picture of this guy because his costume was pretty great. 

The boys are checking out an enormous spider!

Before we left we got a package from Grandma which had Halloween treats and these pillow cases she made. They are so cute, what a great idea! Thanks Mom! I think she should make some for every holiday!! :)

On another note: Jonathan has one week to finish his dissertation and will defend it on December 9. Wish him luck!